Experimental Research And Mechanical Behavior Analysis On Typical Timber Ancestral Hall In Canton

The historic buildings remaining in Canton are mostly residential and ancestral types, which retained a large number of ancestral temples, but there is an urgent need to protect and repair these timber Ancestral Halls as there are varying degrees of damage on these cultural relics that have different level of value. At the same time, the structure research in the field of the timber Ancestral Halls is insufficient, especially in the study of the joints, so that to some extend it is difficult to protect and repair the timber Ancestral Hall in Canton. In order to deeply understand the mechanical property of the timber Ancestral Halls in Canton, experimental study and the analysis of mechanical properties is provided to two typical frames. The influence of mortise-tenon joint stiffness on the force-resistant system of these timber structures is researched, and then a quantitative damage(reliability) analysis is conducted on the overall timber Ancestral Hall structure in which joint stiffness is considered. An evaluating method of structural safety performance is given to provide the theory basis for deeply understanding of the mechanics properties and repair of engineering practice on the Chinese ancient buildings.Firstly, the test of two speciments of timber frame is conducted after the material performance test in view of the Merbau that the study used. Load is applied on one of the timber frames to study the mechanical properties and stress mechanism of mortise-tenon joints under static loads and to determine the stress characteristics and stiffness of mortise-enon connection(load- displacement relationship). A quasi-static test is provided to the other one to obtain the hysteretic curve, rules of stiffness degradation, ductility coefficient, equivalent damping coefficient and so on. Tests showed that the ferrule-tenon joint has good energy dissipation capacity.Secondly, a three-dimensional solid finite element analysis model of the typical structure of the timber Ancestral Hall in Canton is builded with the finite element software ABAQUS so that the vertical static loading and horizontal quasi-static loading simulation can be conducted to verify the feasibility of the finite element model and the calculation method.By parametric analysis to discuss the influence of different column diameter, beam’s depth and tenon’s width on the mechanical behavior of timber frames and joints. The analysis result indicated that the rotational stiffness increase with the rising of the column diameter or beam’s depth, and the rotational stiffness increased before they are reducing with the increase of tenon’s width.Finally, the whole structure analysis is carried out which is proceeded in SAP2000 with the characteristics of the structural joint stiffness that obtained from the tests and the FEM analysis results. The sectional area of the bars in crucial position is deteriorated to study the influence of the deterioration of the crucial bars on the whole structure, as well as the safety performance analysis of the timber Ancestral Hall in Canton. According to the overall mechanical performance, an method for evaluating the structural safety performance of the timber Ancestral Hall in Canton is put forward.